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“Homeland: Immigration in America” 2012 video on PBS

America has always been a nation of immigrants. Throughout our history, there have been times where immigration has been perceived as a national threat to our way of life. We live today in one of those times. Homeland is designed to help define how we as a country and a community should best deal with immigration.

Immigration reform is one of the most polarizing subjects in America today. Many Americans assume that it is only gateway states, bordering Mexico and Canada, where immigration issues are of critical concern. Missouri, in the heartland of America, is a state with no international borders that may seem far removed from the rancor of the immigration debate. Yet the same tensions, anger and political polarization develop there as in the border states. In Homeland: Immigration in America, a three-hour documentary series, Missouri becomes a metaphor for all of America, emblematic of the complicated immigration debate and the changing narrative of what it means to be and become American.

Each of the three Homeland episodes revolves around core themes focusing both on the fine line separating success and failure for immigrants and refugees in America, and the fierce debate about whether legal and illegal immigrants and refugees threaten the American way of life.

Homeland illuminates a new chapter in American history. The series offers viewers personal insights into America’s immigrant experience as a guide in exploring one of the most important public policy debates of our time. The series serves as a vehicle to explore just how much we as a country and a community value assimilation and inclusion, the extent to which we are bound by language, and ultimately, whether we as a nation are still a beacon for immigrants.

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